Amazon INNOVATES. That's the thing you whiners don't understand. They're not dominating because they undercut you on price. Price is just one way to please customers. Service is another. Value is another. But the biggest one is technology.

Anyone can sell for cheap. Not anyone can single-handedly jump-start the digital revolution. Not everyone can create an online store that is not only a pleasure to shop at, but where it is fun to spend time.

Amazon is going to eat you all for lunch because they aren't thinking about how to make money tomorrow. They're thinking about how to make money in 2018.

They're doing all the stuff you never did--hell, they're doing stuff that you never even thought of. They're all about pushing it forward. They're all about gathering and analyzing data. They're all about challenging themselves to do better, to focus on the future, to learn from the past. They're all about pleasing the customer (and I heard from no less than half a dozen Amazonians that they consider authors to be their customers.)

They experiment. They change. They evolve.

Are they perfect? Hardly. Show me a business, no matter how tiny, that is perfect. In fact, show me a person who is perfect. We all make mistakes as we strive to better ourselves.

But when Amazon makes a mistake, they own it. They don't compile mistake upon mistake until an industry is satisfied with an 80% return rate for books and a maximum of 17.5% royalties for authors and a $35 price tag for the new Stephen King.